Self-stick labels are made with the label having pressure-sensitive adhesive on one side. A protective layer of paper or synthetic material is removably stuck on that side. The protective layer has an adhesive repellent side on which the label is stuck for easy subsequent removal when the label is used.
To make such labels, a composite strip of the label and protective layer materials, stuck together, are continuously fed to an automatic punching machine which punches out the label contours while leaving the protective layer material strip intact to function as a carrier for conveying the punched labels onward. The punching operation produces a lattice of the label material which is peeled off of the strip of protective layer material at the punching machine.
The machine is supplied by coils of such composite strip mounted so that as one coil becomes exhausted it is replaced by another coil, the trailing end of the strip from the exhausting coil necessarily requiring splicing to the leading end of the strip from the unused coil. A storage loop can be formed in the composite strip between the punching machine and the splicing location so that at that location the composite strip can be momentarily stopped for the splicing operation, but such stopping is for short duration and requires rapid splicing.
It is possible to splice the composite strip ends together by positioning them to form an end-to-end joint and applying splicing pieces in the form of short lengths of strip having pressure-sensitive surfaces which are stuck on both outsides of both composite strip ends and with the splicing pieces spanning the joint. For firmness, the splicing pieces much be pressed towards each other on the composite strips' surfaces.
The above splice can be made quickly, but if the joint is not tightly made, a space is formed between the ends of the two composite strips, and when the splicing pieces are pressed together, it is possible for their adhesive surfaces to inter-contact and become joined together. In that event, when the punched-out lattice is pulled from the strip of protective layer material from the latter's adhesive-repellent surface, the lattice is torn apart at the splice because there the lattice is joined too firmly to the strip of protective layer material, which is functioning as a carrier strip, because at the splice the lattice is connected by the two interjoined splicing pieces to the outside which provides good adherence for pressure-sensitive adhesive, because it has not been treated to make it adhesive-repellent.